Oliver Shermacher

"Shermacher evokes a spherical weightlessness and transfers the tension to the audience, as one would expect only from first-class musicians." - Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung

Oliver Shermacher is a multi-award-winning clarinettist known for his virtuosic and imaginative performances. Winner of the 2022 Aeolus International Wind Competition and recipient of the Audience Award, Oliver now lives between Australia and Germany, working as a soloist, teacher and orchestral clarinettist.

In Australia, Oliver is a recipient of the Freedman Fellowship and was a finalist in the ABC Young Performers Award, where he also received the Audience Award. He has appeared as a soloist with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Vogtlandphilharmonie, Neue Lausitzer Philharmonie and Apex Ensemble, and was Artist in Residence with the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, with whom he premiered the Alice Chance Clarinet Concerto.

A passionate chamber musician, Oliver has performed at Nicolas Altstaedt’s Lockenhaus Festival, as well as the Schleswig-Holstein, Kissinger, Rheingau and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festivals. He has played as Principal Clarinet with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Stuttgart Kammerorchester, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Opera Australia Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra. As Principal Bass Clarinet, he has performed with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra and the Australian World Orchestra, and he currently holds a permanent position on Bass Clarinet with the Freiburg Philharmonisches Orchester.

Oliver completed his Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Francesco Celata and his Master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg with Kilian Herold and Anton Hollich.

Beyond the concert stage, Oliver specialises in multidisciplinary performance, integrating clarinet with dance, theatre, composition and acting. He has collaborated extensively with the Little Eggs Theatre Company, winning the 2022 Sydney Theatre Award for Sound Design. Drawing on this experience, he works as an animateur and project developer with the Australian Youth Orchestra, creating innovative education projects with a particular focus on students with disabilities. 

Equally at home in klezmer, jazz and historical performance, Oliver plays a wide range of clarinets. Outside music, he enjoys cooking, reading and listening to Cat Stevens.